


Magnolias

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrien Agreste Knows, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alya Salt, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Chloé and Marinette friendship, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Happy Ending, Happy Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, I literally post this as I go, Identity Reveal, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila account don't interact, Lila salt, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Hard, Uncle Jagged Stone (Miraculous Ladybug), adrien has the agreste(tm) temper, chlonette friendship, class salt, let chloe and marinette be friends!!!, lila gets exposed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:15:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23941417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Marinette is sick and tired of Lila’s lies. Chloe and Adrien notice and seem to have a plan.Why did she suddenly transfer?Why is there a girl that Lila claims to be one of Paris’ superheroes?And why does this fake Ladybug keep appearing?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 111
Kudos: 856





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first time posting on this website :)  
> A few things to note: I am NOT caught up on Miraculous at all. Sorry :p but I would appreciate if y'all don't get mad if the characters are doc, because I'm going off what I can remember. Also: Chloe is very out of character. but I LOVE the idea that Chloe gets redemption and grows as a person and slowly becomes friends with her. also: I refuse to put the accent on the e because it is current incredibly late for me and it takes too much effort to put it on every single one. Sorry :(
> 
> The title relates to something that happens in later chapters :) 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy the story!! :)

Marinette was getting sick and tired of this. She didn’t want to listen to Lila anymore. It had been getting worse and worse with Lila. The lies and bullying had just about become unbearable. The moment Marinette walked in she immediately noticed a girl with navy hair sitting next to Lila, as they squished with Alya in what once was her past seat. She caught a sliver of whatever conversation was going on.

“Shh. We can’t talk about it too much! We don’t know who we can trust,”  
“But you’re Ladybug! We need to talk about it. Maybe at lunch we can find somewhere secluded? I have questions!”

“Alya, maybe! Now hush!” Lila glanced over to where Marinette stood.  
The other two pairs of eyes followed hers as they met with the girl dressed in pink. She sighed. A fake Ladybug? Really? She could almost name the differences between herself and the girl. Height, the obviously fake contacts, and especially how the other girl seemed to have the complete opposite view of secret identities than Ladybug did. 

She could almost hear Tikki’s voice telling her they’re not worth it. So she just walked to the back to the classroom. Well, she tried to. Lila had stuck her foot out just as she was walking up the stairs, and of course Marinette tripped. Right as Adrien walked in as well. 

Perfect. She quickly grabbed all of her dropped papers and books before scurrying to her seat. She lowered her eyes down to the desk, hoping to avoid as much embarrassment as she could. She glanced up and noticed that Chloe was looking at her with an odd look on her face. Was it sympathy? Would Chloe of all people looking at her with sympathy? The girl who had made fun of her for years? Surely she was imagining things. 

Next she noticed Lila’s trio laughing. She elected the best decision was to ignore them. That led her eyes to Adrien. He had a look of worry on his face as his eyes met Marinette’s. She shook her head before looking down at her papers once again as Mme. Bustier walked in. 

It was time for lunch and Marinette scrambled to pack her stuff away before Lila could talk to her. “Marinette, I’d like for you to meet a friend of mine.” She could recognize that sickly sweet and obviously fake voice from a mile away. Lila. Of course, when had she ever been that lucky. 

“Yes, Lila?” She tried to pull off her nicest voice that she could. Really, she did.

“Hi there! My name's Victorine Laurent! I’ve recently transferred and Lila here, has been introducing me to everyone,” Victorine spoke happily.

“My name is Marinette. It’s nice to meet you.” 

Suddenly, a flash of yellow grabbed the navy haired girl, “Dupain-Cheng! Would you like to join Adrien and I at lunch today?” Marinette sat in confusion for a second. ‘Is Chloe asking me to come to lunch with her?’ She thought for a split second before agreeing, “Sure! Are you leaving now?”

Anything to get out of this awkward situation. She quickly got up, grabbing her bag before waving a quick goodbye to the new girl. She didn’t have anything against her. She didn’t know much about Victorine anyways. As she walked away she tried to pretend that Alya’s look of betrayal didn’t hurt. Keyword: tried. 

Chloe dragged her to where Adrien was standing at the entrance of their school. “Hey Marinette! Are you joining us for lunch today?”

“Ah, erm Yes, am I. I mean I am! Hahah….” She laughed nervously as she spoke. He chuckled at her and gave what she could tell was a genuine smile. Marinette knew he rarely did that during class anymore, whenever Lila would hold onto him. He would simply give off his fake model smile, that pulled at her heartstrings and made her feel awful for him. She promised herself that she would never make him feel like that, whether she was just his friend or something more. 

“Well, let’s get going! We can head to the hotel, where the chef can make something.” Chloe started walking ahead. The pair looked at each other before laughing and trailing behind her.

Once they had arrived at the dining room. They sat and began eating, discussing various things before Marinette felt a slight weight land on her shoulders. 

“Is that my dearest niece! What has brought you here, Marinette?” Jagged spoke with a big smile. Penny followed behind him, seemingly just as happy to see her. She relaxed slightly knowing it was him. 

“I’m here on our school’s lunch break! I was invited by Chloe.” 

“Well that’s great. So… what do you think about designing either a new album cover or perhaps an outfit for my tour? I need something totally Rock n’ Roll and I think you’re the one who totally gets it!” 

Penny sighed before speaking up, “Of course we’d talk to your parents about it and if you don’t have time due to school work it's fine.” She smiled fondly at Jagged and Marinette as she shook her head. 

Marinette smiled, “I’d love to! You two are like family! Besides, I don’t have too much to work on right now at least!” 

“Rock on! Now I’ve got to go Marinette, but you give me a call alright! We’ll arrange dinner soon sometime, ok!” 

“I didn’t realize you were close with Jagged Stone, Dupain-Cheng,!” Chloe said,

“Ah… yeah. Anyways Chloe, I’m not meaning to be rude but why did you invite me here in the first place? We’re not quite known for being friends and while I appreciate it… It’s a little odd.” the navy haired girl glanced at the blonde girl, who had shared a look with Adrien that she couldn’t quite decipher. 

“Look Marinette, I haven’t been the nicest in the past but I’ve grown as a person. The way Lila is treating you is taking this way too far. I wanted to… make up for how I’ve acted.”  
Adrien gave Chloe an encouraging smile and a nod to her. 

“I accept your apology Chloe. I really do appreciate you getting me out of that situation earlier.” 

Adrien spoke next with a smile on his face, “I may have told you to take the high road but this has gone too far. And we have an idea on how to expose her lies.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoy this chapter! I'm trying to line up all the plot points and keep the characters mostly in character :,) 
> 
> I have some interesting ideas that I think you guys might enjoy!

A few weeks earlier Chloe sat in her room. She had overheard something earlier and it really threw her for a loop. 

Lila and Marinette were standing in the bathroom. A loud slap rang throughout the room. Marinette seemed to hunch into herself and there were fresh tears running down her cheeks. “No one’s going to believe you, Marinette. Honestly, it’s amusing how quickly they turned against you. As if… maybe they already had something against you,” Lila’s grin grew and became more malicious by the minute, “Besides, if anyone was bullying you, would they think it’s the sweet new transfer student who has been nothing but helpful to them, or Chloe who has bullied you since you were small and is nothing but stuck up?”

“Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?” The navy haired girl sobbed. 

“Why, who said you ever did anything? Maybe I’m just bored.” And with that, Lila left the restroom without a look back.

Marinette walked to the sink and splashed some water on her face. She gave a weak smile to herself in the mirror before turning and heading back to class. 

Chloe laid on her bed and sighed. She could list on and on about what she had done to the class in the past and what she did to Marinette alone was more than half of it. Most days she wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. But recently Ladybug had spoken to her about her actions and the miraculous. 

Ladybug landed on Chloe’s balcony with a serious look on her face, “Chloe. I wanted to say I’m proud of you. Ever since you’ve received your miraculous, you’ve started to grow as a person and you’ve been more mature and been kinder to your class. I know this has been a huge step for you and I wanted to say I have noticed the change.”  
A smile grew on Ladybug’s face as Chloe seemed to light up, “I’m so glad Ladybug!”. Chloe was not used to praise. Her dad bought her love and her mother did not speak to her often.  
The two spoke a bit before they noticed it was getting late and Chloe bid Ladybug goodbye. 

Chloe knew she hadn’t been the nicest in the past. She wanted to be better, even if it was to just get to still talk to Pollen and help fight against akumas. To continue to do that, she’d have to work to be a better person. It would be hard, but it would be worth it. 

And she knew exactly where she had to start. With Marinette’s situation with Lila. That had been left alone far too long and someone had to stop her. 

So Chloe grabbed her phone, and dialed a familiar number, “Hi Adrikins? I need to talk to you…. Yes I know it’s late, but I’m sure you’d like to hear me out.” 

Adrien mumbles drifted through her phone. “Marinette’s situation with Lila is much worse than you thought.” 

That got his attention. “Yes. As odd as it may seem, I want to help her. I need to make up for how I used to act. As much as I hate admitting that I’m wrong. What I did was…” Saying it out loud was hard. While, yes, she wanted to change, it was still hard to admit that she had been downright horrible to the class. Not on Lila’s level perhaps, but still… not great. 

“Yes, I am fine. You’re being ridiculous.” 

She understood why he thought she was acting odd though. As much as she wanted to change, she knew it didn’t change what she did in the past. The two spoke on the phone for a while before heading to sleep. 

The next day Chloe noticed Marinette trip as Lila stuck her foot out. She raised a hand out to help the navy haired girl and ignored Lila and her lackey's laughter. 

“...Chloe? Why are you helping me?”  
“Don’t think anything of it Dupain-Cheng! I just… you’re in the way on the floor like that!” Chloe turned away, avoiding Marinette’s eyes. She quickly walked away, ignoring the stares of other students around her, “Utterly ridiculous!” Chloe muttered under her breath. 

Chloe walked off to her classroom where she met up with Sabrina and sat down and glanced at her phone, mindlessly scrolling. She could see out of her peripheral vision that Marinette had entered the room and was staring at her. The blonde watched as Marinette walked to her seat, which had been moved to the back of the room by the students so that Lila could sit with Alya. 

She could hear Lila and Alya whispering and snickering, undoubtedly about Marinette. Did Lila ever rest? She knew saying something would help and she knew she should’ve paused and thought out what to say, but she blurted out, “Lila, Alya can you two share what you are so not quite being subtle whispering about? It’s quite irritating.”

Alya glared at her, “Why don’t you mind your own business Chloe! You weren’t a part of the conversation, anyways.”

Now that got on her nerves, “Well, unfortunately I don’t care. If it isn’t anything bad, why don’t you share, hmm?” Chloe analyzed her nails, looking for any perfections with a bored look on her face. 

“Look, Chloe if you care so much, We were talking about my last charity trip.”

Chloe rolled her eyes at that, “Mhm. Alright sure, try and be less obnoxious then.” She knew they were whispering about Marinette. But she had to bid her time. She knew it’d make the end result that much sweeter.

Many confused eyes watched her but she ignored them. She could feel Marinette’s confused stare most out of all of them, as if her eyes were burning holes into the back of her head. She did her best to keep the smug smile off her face as Mme. Bustier walked into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading! :) Please leave a kudos or comment if you enjoyed, I absolutely love reading your comments! I plan to get another chapter up soon, hopefully sometime this week! We'll see how it works with my online classes!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy this! 
> 
> A note after a comment I got on my last chapter, please do NOT role-play on my story. It makes me slightly uncomfortable. I don't care if you role-play on your own time, thats cool! but I will delete comments on my chapters if you're roleplaying. It's just a preference :)
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading my story!! :)

Current time. 

Marinette stared at the two bug-eyed. “You both want to… expose her lies?” A confused look. “You don't have the best track record, Chloe. And Adrien. You told me to take the high road. I’m not just going to stop out of nowhere. Besides exposing her lies before only made the situation worse.” 

“Look. Dupain-Cheng. I’m trying to be better. Besides, my connections will help if we want to prove that Lila doesn’t know any of the celebrities that she claims to. Your relationship with Jagged will also help with that,” Chloe scoffed. 

“Chloe,” Adrien reminded. 

“Right, right. Anyways. First we need to create a list of all the connections she claims to have. So we can get in contact with them. We also need to record any evidence of her blackmailing you or physically harming you.” 

“Another claim we can disprove is that Victorine is Ladybug. We can get an interview with Ladybug herself to prove it.” 

“How are you going to get into contact with Ladybug, Marinette?” Adrien asked. 

The girl froze. She definitely didn’t think this through. She came up with the first excuse she could think of, “Well, Chat Noir stops by sometimes for pastries at the bakery so I could always ask him to get in contact with her!” 

“Yeah. She claims to be Ladybug but Ladybug is really strict about identities. It doesn’t seem like her to tell a bunch of people…” Adrien muttered.

“Huh? Did you say something Adrikins?” Chloe said. 

“No, no, it’s nothing.” 

“Alright… Well let’s meet up for lunch again and discuss again at some other time. It’s getting awfully close to when we need to be back in school.” 

The trio headed back to Françoise Dupont, chatting politely among themselves. Marinette noticed people staring at them once they entered and she whispered to the two blondes, “Lila definitely said something while we were gone.”

“Don’t let them bother you, Marinette. It’s none of their business either way.”

“Dupain-Cheng, they know nothing but what Lie-la has told them. So we shouldn’t have too much to worry about. Besides, they won’t believe her once we’re done with her.” Chloe snickered. 

“That doesn’t change the fact that they believed her over me, Chloe. They ‘ve known me for years but dropped everything and believed some new girl. It hurts.” 

“What are the three amigos whispering about now,” Alya sneered. 

“Might I repeat your own words, Alya? Mind your business, you weren’t a part of the conversation,” Chloe snapped, “Run off and go be Lila’s shadow again. Unless she dropped you as soon as Ladybug came to school here?” 

Alya ignored Chloe’s comments before looking at Marinette, “Really. You don’t need to be jealous about Lila! She really is a good friend! Just apologize and we wouldn’t have to deal with this whole situation!” 

“Look Alya,” Marinette took a deep breath in, hoping she wouldn’t regret what she was about to say, “I appreciate the sentiment. But I’m not the one who needs to apologize.”

Alya had a look of shock on her face before she quickly replaced it with a glare, “Fine be like that,” the journalist turned and began to walk away.

Chloe, of course felt the need to have the last word, “Shouldn’t a journalist double check her sources?” 

“Chloe, drop it. She’ll come around at some point.” 

“...And if she doesn’t Dupain-Cheng? What if she still chooses Lila over reason?”

“Then maybe…” The navy haired girl looked down, “Maybe it’s better off that way.” 

Adrien patted her back lightly with a sad smile, “It’s ok, Marinette. We’re here for you.” 

Marinette glanced up and her eyes met with Victorine’s. Shockingly, the fake Ladybug’s eyes were filled with remorse. Which was something Marinette was definitely not expecting. ‘Maybe… Maybe I should talk to her. Ask her about it. When Lila isn’t around of course.’ She thought to herself. 

Marinette became awfully aware of the various laughter and whispers around her as people pointed. She took in a breath before standing straight and pulling on her Ladybug persona. She glanced at the blonde duo beside her with a smile, “Well, what are we waiting for? We should get to class, hmm?”

Marinette wouldn’t let this get to her. At least not where everyone could see. That would be letting Lila win. And she wouldn’t let Lila win and get away with this. She doesn’t want anyone else to go through what she had to go through. No one deserved that. 

She sat in her normal seat in the back of the class. Oddly enough, Chloe came and sat with her. “Chloe, you don’t have to-”

Chloe interrupted her mid-sentence, “Dupain-Cheng, I want to. Not that it matters of course.”

“Fine. Then call me Marinette. It doesn’t seem right for you to call me by my last name if we’re going to be around each other a lot,” Marinette smiled kindly at the girl next to her. 

Chloe sat for a moment, “... Don’t think too hard about it… Marinette.” 

Marinette giggled at Chloe’s antics before looking back down at her work. She could feel Alya and Lila’s eyes burning holes into her and the blonde girl’s skulls. Marinette elected ignoring them was the best plan of action for now. 

The teacher walked in and class began. Marinette doodled on the side of her paper, not quite focusing on the class. Every once in a while, Chloe would lightly nudge her if the teacher was about to call on a student so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself. Not that Chloe would acknowledge her when she did so. 

But it was still progress. She had never felt any entirely malicious emotions towards Chloe. While, yes, they most definitely had not been close in past years but she could tell that Chloe was trying to be better. And honestly? That sometimes is what matters most. 

She was proud of Chloe’s change. She wasn’t quite sure what spurred it entirely. But it was welcomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! <3 I plan to try and get another chapter out soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a shorter chapter, but I still hope you enjoy!

Classes had finished and Marinette was slightly exhausted. She knew Lila and Alya were whispering about her. She was worried about how this would worsen. Besides, would anyone even believe her? They probably wouldn’t believe Chloe or herself. Adrien most out of all of them, but could he even speak out? Marinette didn’t want for him to be pulled out of classes just because she couldn’t handle this by herself.

She had to at least let Adrien know she appreciated his help. If he got in trouble for this, there would be consequences that he definitely didn’t deserve. So she set off to find him. 

She heard his voice under the staircase and paused. Marinette knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop but she had a feeling she shouldn’t step in.

“Look Lila, I don’t like you hanging off my arm all the time! I also don’t appreciate you saying that you come to photoshoots or participate in them. Those are lies and I really don’t want anything to spread around.”

‘That lying fox! Gosh, if I could get my hands on her!’ the navy-haired girl thought before listening again.

“Look Adrien, I’ve already made a proposition. You know what you have to do.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Well, perhaps your father wouldn’t appreciate you hanging around with someone like Marinette, especially with what’s being said…”

“Are you blackmailing me?” Adrien sounded exhausted, “Is that really what you’ve come to. Look Lila, I’m done.” 

“I hope you understand your decision, pretty boy” She sneered. 

She heard Adrien’s footsteps coming towards her so she pretended she was already heading that way, “Hey, Adrien? Do you have a moment?”

“Yeah Marinette! Do you mind if we head somewhere else though?” 

“Sure, we can head over to the bakery… if you don’t have a photoshoot of course!”

“I’m free for today,” Once they were away from Lila, the blonde spoke far more seriously, “So, what did you want to talk about Marinette?”

“Well, I wanted to let you know that I understand the risks of this for you, especially with your father so I wanted to let you know that you don’t need to be mentioned in the whole scheme of things or anything, you can even not take part if you have to. I know that school is important to you and-”  
Adrien chuckled and Marinette could’ve sworn it was one of the most beautiful things she’s heard. It was so genuine. 

“Look Marinette. I appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do. But what type of friend would I be if I let you do this alone? Look. I know there’s definitely going to be some consequences,” He sighed, “But it’s worth it. There’s consequences for everything.” 

“ I know but…”

“No buts. Now let’s enjoy some pastries.” He smiled, trying to reassure her. 

She shook her head, “Fine, fine.” Marinette couldn’t get it out of her head that perhaps there was more to the situation than what Adrien was talking about. Especially after what she had just heard.

“Hi Mama, Hi Papa! How are you?” 

Her parents smiled at the duo before ushering them up to the apartment, “We’re a little busy right now, dear, but there’s extra pastries upstairs.”

“Thank Mrs. Dupain-Cheng.”

“Please Adrien, call me Sabine.” 

The two headed upstairs and grabbed the pastries before heading to Marinette’s room. 

“So, should we start on homework? It’d be good to get some done,” Adrien suggested. 

“Yeah, I’m dreading physics though. It’s probably one of my worst subjects!” Marinette groaned. 

“Lucky for you it’s my best, I could help you”

The two powered through their homework until they heard screams. “I’m uh.. Going to head to the restroom!” The blonde left the room.

Marinette made sure he was gone before looking at Tikki, “I was studying with Adrien! Adrien! Of course Hawkmoth had to interrupt!” 

“Come on Marinette, we can talk about this later!”

“Right. 

“Tikki, spots on!” 

The red-suited girl quickly swung out of the room trying to find the sources of the screams. It led her right back to Françoise Dupont. Lila was akumatized.

Was she surprised at this point? Not really. Lila got akumatized an almost ridiculous amount of times. But what could she even be upset about now? She seemed to be in the wrong when she was talking with Adrien.

Marinette hadn’t quite heard the entire conversation though. Adrien could’ve said something. But would he? He was always so nice to her.

She could hear a small voice in the back of her head that sounded quite similar to Tikki’s, ‘Marinette, akuma now, Adrien later! Come on!’ 

Right. She could do this. She just had to get back into her Ladybug mindset. 

She heard Chat land beside her, his usual grin plastered on his face, “So, do we have any information on the akuma?”

“Lila. Again. Volpina with her usual illusions. However, she doesn’t have her necklace on. I’m not quite sure what the object could be.” 

“You always have a plan, M'lady. I’m sure you’ll figure it out!”

` “Right. Come on Chat, we should get civilians out. We don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

And with that the duo jumped down into the fray, not quite sure what they we’re getting themselves into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this isn't too out of character but I do want to give them motives and reasons. I want to make them seem more human I suppose?? Adrien's conversation with Lila is a starter to that haha :p I really do hope you're enjoying this so far!!
> 
> I'm so so sorry that this took so long to write! I really wanted to establish some things first and made sure I knew where I was going with this. There's a lot more to this story than what it may seem like lol :)
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoy and I plan to get the next chapter out asap! (HOWEVER: Please remember I am human and I am still in school. I can't spend all my time on this.)
> 
> Anyways, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed and as always, comments and kudos are appreciated but not necessary! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this!   
>  I'm actually really satisfied with this??
> 
> I actually planned for this chapter to go differently but I enjoy this much more :) 
> 
> I also suck as writing akuma battles be warned lol 
> 
> Anyways, please enjoy.

Chat ushered some citizens out of the building, before noticing Ladybug standing idly. That was unlike her, besides didn’t she head the other direction?

“M’lad- Hold on a minute you aren’t Ladybug?” The blonde spoke as the girl turned, “Why are you in a Ladybug suit with a mask?”

She had a different facial structure and didn’t radiate the pure confidence or selflessness that Ladybug did. She was a poor copy and seemed to hunch in on herself. 

“Hold on. This isn’t in the script? Is this an actual akuma attack? Oh my god!” Victorine trembled, “Lila told me we were filming a video for one of her charities!”

“I’m sorry to break this to you, but Lila is the one akumatized… This is a real attack. I need to get you out of here.” He grabbed the girl before heading to the door. 

Only to notice Volpina and Ladybug were there fighting already. He turned to the fake Ladybug, “Look, I need you to run into some closet or restroom and lock yourself in there. I need to deal with this right meow,” He gave a small grin before jumping into the fray. 

What could’ve made Lila get akumatized? As far as he was aware, nothing had happened today that was particularly upsetting for her. 

Even after his conversation with her, she hadn’t seemed upset. 

A few hours earlier, Lila had pulled Adrien underneath the staircase. Her nails were digging into his arms, almost deep enough to draw blood. “What are you doing. We had a deal, Agreste.”

“You didn’t quite hold up your end of the deal either though, did you? I was just evening up the playing fields,” He shook his head, “All you’re doing is digging yourself a deeper hole, Lila. You might want to watch yourself.”

“Why are you siding with Marinette, anyways? It doesn’t make any difference,” Lila sneered, “Your ragtag bunch won’t get far against me. I’ve done this for a while. Besides, Marinette and Chloe don’t have the best reputations right now, all I’d have to do is pull a few strings…”

He hated what that implied. “Look. I don’t know what you have against Marinette but you clearly have the wrong idea. She’s an everyday Ladybug for a reason. You couldn’t dream to be like her.” 

“Well, if you don’t want her reputation to be even worse-”

Adrien interrupted the girl in front of him, “No Lila, I’m done with stupid deals. I’m tired of you.”

“Adrien, think about your decision, now-” 

“No, Lila. Look, I don’t like you hanging off my arm all the time. I also don’t appreciate you saying that you come to photoshoots or participate in them. I really don’t want anything to spread around. For your sake, naturally. The Agreste brand’s lawyers would tear you apart easily.” 

“Adrien, just know I tried to make a proposition. You know what you have to do to get in contact with me.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Well, perhaps your father wouldn’t appreciate you hanging around with someone like Marinette, especially with what’s being said…”

‘God. I’m really exhausted. I don’t want to hear her voice anymore’ The boy thought. 

“Are you blackmailing me? Is that really what you’ve come to? Look Lila, I’m done.” Adrien walked off. He knew he needed to calm down. 

“I hope you understand your decision, pretty boy” Lila sneered.

Surely that wasn’t enough to akumatize her right? As Ladybug yelled for her Luck Charm, he noticed something. Her right fist was closed, and she avoided actually using her flute as much other than a weapon. Chat Noir nodded at Ladybug before discreetly pointing to her palm. He quickly stole Volpina’s attention so Ladybug could focus on creating a plan. 

Ladybug smiled slightly, before focusing again on her Lucky Charm. “Hey, Foxy! I’m feline nice today, so why don’t you just drop whatever's in your hand right meow! Purr-haps it’d be the best claw-sibility for you!”

Volpina just rolled her eyes, “Why don’t you shut up you mangy cat!” 

“Chat enough cat puns, more action!”

“Fur-tunately for you Bugaboo, I have a hiss-tory of fighting akumas and saying puns at the same time!” With that, he extended his baton to hit her right hand, dropping the object. He quickly cataclymsed it before grabbing onto Volpina.

As he grappled with Volpina, he noticed Ladybug purify the akuma. Lila fell to the ground in an almost undeniably fake manner. “Was I akumatized?”

Ladybug sighed, “Yes, Lila. Now we ought to go. We both need to get out of here.”

Chat nodded as he noticed that people began to creep back into the school, “Preferably before the paparazzi appear.” 

He turned to Ladybug, before smiling. “Pound it,” 

That was when Chat realized he had left Marinette in her home believing that he was in the restroom. It would be a bit hard to explain why he was in there so long. He needed to hurry. 

He quickly slipped through the window of the restroom before walking back to Marinette’s room. Just as Ladybug had landed in her room. That was odd. Why would Ladybug be in Marinette’s room? 

Well he quickly got his answer as Ladybug detransformed into Marinette. Oh. Well.  
Pretending he just got there, he knocked on the door. ‘I need to get the fact that Marinette is Ladybug out of my head for right now. Otherwise I don’t think I’ll ever be able to focus!’

“Are you alright Adrien? W-would water like you? Ah, I meant er, would you like some water?”

Adrien felt a buzz in his pocket. He took his phone out and read a text message from Nathalie. “While I would love to stay longer, Marinette. I do have to get home. Thank you for inviting me! I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

She led him downstairs before bidding him goodbye at the door, “See you tomorrow, Adrien!”

He waved before stepping into the car. “Plagg. Marinette is Ladybug. Our everyday Ladybug, is in fact Ladybug.” He tried keeping his voice down with his bodyguard driving. 

“You humans and your drama. All I need is cheese. No drama ever,”

Adrien sighed and shook his head at his kwami before giving him some camembert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated! :) 
> 
> Noting Adrien's conversation with Lila: I love the head canon that Adrien has Gabriel's temper but restrains himself more?? I don't know why but it makes a lot of sense to me for a couple reasons. 
> 
> I know the reveal seems soon, but I promise that as the saying goes, "It'll get worse before it gets better". I won't make it that easy on them :p
> 
> Anyways have a lovely day y'all!!! <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't want to do a full chapter in Victorine's POV, but it kind of happened but it was necessary for how I plan to progress the plot! I hope it doesn't bother y'all too much but it does give some background on the akuma and Victorine herself. 
> 
> On another note thank you so so so so much for 300 kudos and 50 bookmarks! It means the absolute world to me! This fic was originally meant to be a oneshot and I definitely didn't expect anyone to really read it. I get so excited seeing all of your feedback and comments :)

Victorine smiled at Lila. She appreciated the girl introducing her to the class and including her in their activities. Even if she was overly nice. Victorine had just moved from a much smaller town in France and Paris was very different. 

Lila had even included her in their classes play assignment. She had to dress up as some pig-tailed ladybug superhero? It seemed really silly and childish but Lila had told her it was for a children’s charity. Although the Italian girl telling her not to mention it to other students was quite odd. 

She didn’t enjoy Lila’s comments about another student though. What was her name? Marie? No. That wasn’t it. Marinette? Yes. They were all so backhanded.  
She was currently dressed up in this costume when she heard screaming. Lila had left a bit ago to grab the script. ‘Am I missing something? Those screams are too real!’ Victorine ran out of the room, looking around to figure out what the issue was. 

A boy in a black cat suit that was ushering students out suddenly turned around, “M’lad- Hold on a minute you aren’t Ladybug? Why are you in a Ladybug suit with a mask?”

Victorine froze. They had actual superheroes here. Ladybug was an actual person? ‘I knew I was behind with my small town but… I never thought we were this behind?’ She trembled, wherever there were superheroes, there were always supervillains. “Hold on. This isn’t in the script? Is this an actual akuma attack? Oh my god! Lila told me we were filming a video for one of her charities!” 

“I’m sorry to break this to you, but Lila is the one akumatized… This is a real attack. I need to get you out of here.” The hero grabbed her before running out. 

Except now there was a girl looking almost identical to her with a yoyo and next to her was Lila. But she was different? She had on an orange and white bodysuit and held a flute in one of her hands. Victorine was pulled out of her daze when the blonde spoke, “Look, I need you to run into some closet or restroom and lock yourself in there. I need to deal with this right meow.” 

She ran into the locker room and sat on one of the benches. ‘Is… Lila the supervillain? But that wouldn’t make sense with all of the charities she helps… This is so weird.’

She heard a knock on the door before Lila walked in with tears streaming down her face. “Victorine? I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you earlier!”

“I’m sorry but what was going on out there? Was that… real? How was that happening!”

Lila pulled the other in a hug, albeit seemed far too tight, “Well, the script was based on real superheroes. Ladybug and Chat Noir. They fight against Hawkmoth,” She hiccuped, “And he takes advantage of people when they aren’t feeling positive and akumatizes them! It’s awful! I’m so sorry you had to learn this way!”

“Wait then why are you calling me Ladybug, when there’s an actual Ladybug?”

The Italian girl hesitated, “Well, they’ve been taking some footage in class! And I wanted it to be as natural as possible so I didn’t tell you! Can you ever forgive me?” 

Victorine paused. Did she really want to deal with drama? No. Not at all and Lila seemed to be at the center of it all. She needed to get both sides of the story. But she didn’t need to let Lila know of her doubts. “Of course!” A fake smile plastered on her face, she had mastered those, “But what got you so upset? Did I mess up your script?” She glanced at the object in Lila’s fist. 

Lila seemed suspicious at first before smiling at her. “Well, it’s not your fault. My boyfriend, you know him, Adrien Agreste, was blackmailed by Marinette! It’s awful, she’s spreading all these lies about me and he confronted me about them. He wouldn’t believe me!” 

Victorine had to stop herself from stiffening, she was sure that there was more to the story than that, “Oh that’s awful, you poor thing! I can’t imagine how you feel. What’s that in your fist?” 

“Oh! It’s this note from Adrien about how he wants space! I grabbed it instead of my script and the memories kind of rushed through me again. It really hurts,”

The handwriting on the page looked like a poor forgery of Adriens. The boy that sat in front of Victorine had much neater handwriting that looked far less rushed. 

“Oh! Well, I ought to change and head home now.” She smiled at Lila before leaving and quickly changing to her regular clothes. Victorine had overheard Marinette and Adrien talking about heading to some bakery. Presumably the one across the street. 

She pushed the door open and smiled at the two adults in front of her. “Hi, Is Marinette here? I really needed to talk to her.” 

“Well, yes! She’s upstairs, Adrien has just left though! Are you a friend of our daughter?”

“I’m a classmate!” She smiled at the two before they gestured to their upstairs. 

Victorine knocked lightly on the entrance to Marinette’s room. “I’m sorry to intrude but I have something important to say,”

Marinette walked down the stairs and smiled, albeit very obviously fakely, at her, “You’re… Victorine right? Lila’s friend,”

“Well. She’s just been introducing me to everyone. I think we should talk.”

“Let’s sit on the couch, it’ll be more comfortable.”

“Marinette, I want to say I’m really sorry. Lila has continuously badmouthed you and I haven’t stopped her. I really wanted to apologize and get your side of the story.”

“I appreciate you apologizing, Victorine! Whether you participated or not, being a bystander is also not good. But sure. I’d be entirely willing to discuss my side of the story with you! Let me grab some cookies and hot chocolate. It is a fairly long story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed! Slowly, Lila's fortress of lies is going to be torn to pieces. Bit by bit :)
> 
> Thank you so so so much for reading!!! <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kind comments! It really means the absolute world to me! <3
> 
> I woke up this morning after posting it at like 2 am my time and had a ton of comments :) 
> 
> Anyways hope you enjoy this chapter. Lots is revealed :)
> 
> I normally try to leave more time between posting chapters but had a ton of motivation!

Marinette was surprised when Victorine showed up. The girl had very briefly spoken to her on her first day but other than that Marinette had not spoken to the transfer student. Marinette didn’t want to be mad at her. For all she knew, Lila was lying to her just as she did with the rest of the class.

Marinette returned with the drinks and pastries. Victorine glanced at Marinette, “We have a lot to talk about. Where do you want to start? With my whole situation with Lila?”

“Yeah. That’ll probably be the best way to start.”

“Okay. This will take a bit,” Marinette sighed, “So let’s start from the beginning.”

Marinette began to explain, everything from Lila lying to the situation in the bathroom. She chose not to say anything about Chloe and Adrien’s plan in case this was Lila trying to get information on her.

“So, Lila has been lying this whole time! Geez, next you’re going to tell me that there isn’t any video for a children’s charity!”

Marinette sat in silence before answering, “What do you mean video?”

“Oh no. Well, when Lila first met me I told her about all these acting classes I’ve taken, because I’d love to be an actress, and well. She told me that your class was working on a video for one of her charities! She had me put my hair up into pigtails and gave me this run-down of a plot where I’m this superhero. I didn’t realize that Ladybug was an actual person or I would’ve never agreed! I don’t want my family in danger!” 

“She really put you in danger like that?”

“I really thought she was being nice. Now you’re going to tell me that Adrien isn’t even her boyfriend! How else would she have been akumatized?”

“Hold on a minute. She told you the reason behind her akumatization?”

“Well, she told me that Adrien was listening to whatever that you told him and wanted a break and said something about breaking up with her. She had this note that Lila said Adrien wrote but that is when I started to doubt it. I mean it looked like a poor forgery of his handwriting.”

Marinette froze. Lila had forged a note? Is that what her akumatized object was? It was some sort of paper but she wasn’t quite able to get a good look at it before it was torn. But how could she be akumatized over a breakup from a non-existent relationship. 

“That doesn’t make sense though… Adrien isn’t and hasn’t ever been in a relationship with Lila?”

“Oh my god. No wonder she told me to never mention it around him! I feel so dumb, I really should’ve realized earlier!”

“Don’t worry, Victorine. People who have known me a whole lot longer and better have fallen for her lies as well. All that matters is that you came to me and actually asked me about it!” Marinette smiled at the girl across from her. She noticed that Victorine had taken out her contacts and that her eyes were brown. 

“She made you wear contacts?” 

Victorine frowned and looked down at the floor, “Yeah, I’m even currently wearing a wig right now. My hair is definitely not navy.” 

Marinette felt bad for her. ‘I couldn’t even imagine going to a new school and immediately being asked to play some part, being forced to wear contacts and a wig, and then learn that it was all for nothing.’ 

“You can take off your wig, if you still have it on.”

Victorine was hesitant before she carefully pulled off the wig. She had short brown hair pulled into a small ponytail. “I really thought it wasn’t going to take long for the so called video to record and I would’ve been able to have my natural hair and eye color sooner rather than later…” The girl seemed ashamed of herself and while Marinette knew she shouldn’t just forgive and forget all the time. But Victorine hadn’t known her previously and Lila had introduced her to a new school.

Besides she didn’t have the energy to be annoyed with more people. Lila and Alya were enough. She didn’t even know how to feel about the rest of her class. 

They chatted for a while before it got quite dark and decided it was time for Victorine to go home. “Hey, why don’t you come to lunch with Chloe, Adrien, and I?”

“Are you sure that they won’t get mad at me for being there? I mean Lila constantly called me her best friend,”

“Well, if you have to you can tell what you told me to them! Besides they're… good people. Well, Chloe’s past actions are definitely not great but she’s really trying to be better and that’s what matters! 

Victorine smiled at her before passing Marinette her phone, “If you say so, do you want to exchange numbers? Incase you need me for anything.”

The navy haired girl broke out into a grin, “Yeah, of course!”

The two quickly exchanged phones before bidding each other goodbye. 

Marinette headed up to room and Tikki flew out from somewhere. “See Marinette, maybe Victorine will be a great addition to our trio! Or, quartet now. Especially since she has spent a ton of time with Lila!” 

“Yeah.. But I don’t want her to feel forced to help. She seems nice and I can’t imagine being forced to change your entire look on the first day.” The girl sighed before sitting down at her desk, “We’ll see how lunch goes tomorrow, I suppose.”

“It’ll end up alright!” Tikki cheered. 

“Yeah, maybe,”

She heard some tapping on her window. Undoubtedly Chat Noir. “Tikki, hide!” 

Marinette walked and pushed the trapdoor open. “Hi there, Purr-incess. How are you tonight?”

“I’m fine. Got to meet someone interesting.”

A look of confusion appeared on Chat’s face before it disappeared, “Oh? Who did you meet?”

“Well, just this new girl in our class. Turns out there a lot more to her than what it seems.”

“Mhm?”

“Yeah. I think I may have misunderstood her before but she’s actually really sweet.”

“Well, that’s purr-ty nice that you’re making a new fur-iend! Fur real!”

The two chatted for a while until the clock read late, late hours of the night. She yawned. “Yeah, yeah,” Marinette sighed at the boy before ushering him out, “It’s late and ‘m tired. Bye, Chat.” 

The boy grinned before escaping out the balcony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few of you predicted this slightly. 
> 
> Thank you all for everything <3 
> 
> Hopefully y'all enjoyed this!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sososo sorry for how long this took! I had no idea how I wanted this to go and then once I wrote it, it seemed like a pointless chapter so I rewrote it to fit better and help the story more. Anyways y'all are wild!! I swear we just reached 200 or so kudos and now this story has 350+???? That's wild, I did NOT expect this story to be read by many people haha :o
> 
> Anyways thank you all for your lovely support!! I do read all comments and respond to as many as I can!!! 
> 
> Please note I am a student and am still doing online school. I write these in my free time and while I try to post often, but can't always do it daily or every other day. Thank you for understanding <3
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Marinette walked into school the next day. She was surprisingly early, especially since she had stayed up late the night before. She noticed that only Adrien and Chloe were already in the classroom. First she didn’t notice anything weird up until she walked up to the back, where her seat was. Until she noticed Adrien sitting there. 

“Oh! Does Mme. Bustier know? I hope you didn’t just do it without her knowing!” The unlike how Marinette ended in the back, was left unsaid, but still very obviously there.

“I told her about how Lila was making me uncomfortable and being distracting with all of her questions. Lila won’t enjoy it but Mme. Bustier seemed to understand.” 

“That’s good and you won’t be constantly clung onto by Lila. The nail marks left in your arms can be really worrisome, Adrien. You don’t have to stay in silence about your pain,” Marinette frowned and lightly laid a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. 

“It’s no big deal, Marinette. Really!” The blond smiled before turning to her “Besides, once this is all over, I have a feeling Lila won’t mess to much with us,” 

“Yeah, that doesn’t make it right though…”

She sighed before sliding into the desk, next to Adrien. Marinette could already sense the outburst that Lila and Co. were going to cause. 

Their classmates began to trickle in and once Lila, Alya, and an apprehensive Victorine walked in the room, Marinette had a feeling that something awful was going to happen. 

“Why is Adrien sitting back there? You didn’t force him to move, did you Marinette?” Alya yelled.

Adrien spoke calmly, “Marinette didn’t force me to do anything, Alya. I’d appreciate that you wouldn’t accuse my friend like that. Besides, I moved because Lila continued to ask me too many questions in class and I simply couldn’t focus. It’s more peaceful in the back.” 

Alya gaped at the boy and Lila’s smile seemed a little too sweet. “You could’ve just told me, Adrien!” 

“I tried, Lila. You never listened.” 

It was fortunate that Mme. Bustier walked in at that moment. “Now class, settle down into your seats. We have important things to go over.”

The tension only grew as classes went on. Marinette elected to ignore it for now. They couldn’t do much during classes. She could see Alya and Lila whispering, but Adrien would lightly tap on her shoulder anytime that he noticed her looking over there. 

She appreciated that, she really did. Marinette wouldn't let them into her head. That’s exactly what they want. 

Lunch approached and she quickly grabbed her bag, not wanting to say much longer. Of course, Alya seemed to have other plans. “Hey Marinette? We wanted you to resign as class president. You aren’t doing a good enough job, and I think Lila would be a much better choice!”

Lila smiled and giggled at Alya, “Oh! I’m flattered, but I’m always out with charities! Are you sure?”

“Of course girl! I’m the class deputy so I can take over when you’re not here!” 

“Well, if you say so! But only if Marinette resigns, naturally”

“You will, won’t you, Marinette?”

Marinette really wanted to say no, even if just to spite them. Her not doing good enough? Who was the one who made them clothes and brought them pastries for free! But by the look in Lila and Alya’s eyes, she had a feeling she should just resign. Besides, don’t give them a reason to suspect that Lila being exposed is her being jealous.

“Of course! I’m sure you both will do a great job,” Marinette mustered the most genuine voice she could. She knew that Lila was going to mess herself up with this one. Lila doesn’t know how much I did for the class, “Well, I ought to get going.”

She quickly caught up with Adrien and Chloe who were waiting outside the classroom. “So let's get going-” Adrien began.

“One minute! We’re waiting for someone!” Marinette smiled. This was the moment of truth. Whether Victorine really was Lila’s best friend and lied to her, or if she was genuinely someone being manipulated. 

“I’m so sorry to keep y’all waiting!” 

Just in time. The navy haired girl noticed that Victorine had her natural hair and no contacts. The smile on her face grew, “Don’t worry about it!”

Adrien paused, “Uh Marinette-”

“It’s Victorine. Trust me on this one.” 

“Wait what-”

“So let’s get going! We need to stop by the bakery and then we can head to the park!” Marinette smiled before grabbing Victorine and walking towards the exit. The two blondes glanced at each other and shrugged before following the duo ahead of them. 

Marinette walked out of the bakery holding a bag with their logo on it, “Let’s head to the park now.”

The others nodded, Chloe and Adrien seemed a bit hesitant with Victorine around, but that was understandable after all. Marinette almost sighed, did they have no faith in her? 

Once they arrived, she quickly passed around the bag. Marinette knew she should probably start speaking, before the tension became even thicker.

“I know Chloe and Adrien must be wondering why I brought Victorine. And Victorine is probably wondering how we’re all in this situation.” Marinette spoke before going straight into explaining Lila’s lies and actions to Victorine. She tried to summarize it, because it would take a while to explain everything and she wanted time for Victorine to explain her experience with Lila. She summed up Chloe and Adrien’s plan, at least the parts she knew of, as best as she could to Victorine before stopping. 

“Now that we got that over with. Marinette, why did you invite Victorine? She was Lila’s lackey ever since she arrived here,” Adrien said. 

“Well I suppose I should start from the beginning…” Victorine began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and supporting me & this story!!! :) I hope you enjoyed! <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya!! I know I haven't updated in a while, but it felt wrong to update during all the protests and the death of George Floyd and many others. Please stay safe. <3
> 
> its so weird that this has 10,000 hits and ~500 kudos?? y'all amaze me
> 
> I have done things on my personal social media accounts and won't elaborate too much here but, 
> 
> A link to blm:
> 
> https://blacklivesmatter.com
> 
> If you choose to protest, please do so safely.

The group was outraged once they had heard Victorine’s story. She was putting the new student in danger. With a supervillain who had magical powers. 

Even though Marinette already knew this, she couldn’t stop herself from being at least a little _angry_. I mean, the amount of danger there was in putting a target on Victorine’s back! “I cannot imagine how her thought process works? How could she ever decide that it was ok?”

Victorine nodded, “I’m so glad you told me about everything. I’m sorry to say, but after this plan goes through, I’m probably going to move out of Paris. Honestly, while it is lovely here, I just… I cannot deal with the thought of being targeted like that.”

“That’s understandable. I can’t imagine how you must feel,” Adrien lightly patted her on the shoulder. 

“How did I even get myself into this mess?” Victorine sighed, “Now, we need to plan this out perfectly. Lila is going **_down._ **”

That brought a grin onto the group's faces. They quickly swapped numbers so they could contact her if needed and hurried back to the school. 

Marinette had a feeling that this may just be getting started.  
  
Lila was going to regret her choices. 

While Marinette really did want to believe the best in everyone and that everyone could be better, (Look at Chloe!) but Lila continuously made decisions that slowly made her less hopeful for Lila to change. 

I mean, most things she lied about could easily be disproved by one google search. And she could be sued for defamation, I mean, it would make Jagged look like a pedophile if he wrote a song about her! Does she not consider the consequences to her actions?

Who knows. All Marinette knew is that she wanted this over as soon as possible. She missed her friends, though it may take her a **very** long time to trust them again, that didn’t mean they had to be at each other's throats. 

♡♥♡♥♡

Adrien sat at his desk as the recording he used to pretend that he was practicing piano played in the background. He stared at his computer while he was video calling with Chloe, “Ok, so we have the list written out of who she has lied about and what she lied about. Are we certain that it has everything?” 

“Yes and we can continue to add to it as we go if we need to! Now, Adrikins, we should start with those who will be easy to contact. Jagged, Clara, and so on!”

“Alright. Marinette can get Jagged and Clara and they’ll likely have more contacts. Rose has contact with Prince Ali… We just can’t let her know it’s for Marinette’s sake because she may tell Lila…” 

Chloe grinned with that comment, “What if, we weren’t the ones asking her?”

“What?” 

“Well, I may be able to convince Sabrina… She may be under Lila’s spell but years of friendship surely won’t mean nothing…” She stopped as she spoke, “Hopefully at least…”

“No time to be sad now. Keep sight on the present Chloe! She’ll likely talk to you more again once Lila gets exposed!” 

“Hmpf! If I want to talk to her again! It’s utterly ridiculous how quickly she switched to believe Lila… How all of them did that! They knew her for a day!” Chloe seethed. 

He knew he had to stop Chloe from getting too angry. She became impulsive the angrier she was and has had this trait since she was young. It often led them into… interesting situations. “Chloe, calm down. We need to think rationally so we don’t make this worse. There’s plenty of time to be upset later,” 

Chloe took in a deep breath, “Fine. But you cannot hold me back if they try and pin it on Marinette,” 

Adrien sighed, “Fine”

The two continued typing out how to go out with their plan. Before bidding each other goodbye, since Adrien had yet another photo shoot. 

  
  


♡♥♡♥♡

Marinette laid down on her chaise, sighing before glancing over to Tikki, “Are we sure this is the right way to go? I do want to stop Lila’s lying, I really do but, what if they don’t believe me? I mean they never did before! Or what if Lila-”  
  


“Marinette, it’ll be ok! This has gone on too long! Besides, do you really want your classmates to keep being manipulated by her? You’re just stopping it before it gets too far and they get in even more trouble!” 

  
  


Tikki was a voice of reason, she was able to trust her opinion, she was a goddess of creation, for Kwami’s sake. Yet why did this whole plan still feel so wrong. She barely knew anything about it, or at least what it pertains. Still, what if it backfired? What if it escalated? She breathed in before slowly exhaling. She was fine. Everything was okay. 

She noticed Tikki quickly hide but before she said anything, she saw Chat come through the trap door. Ah, that makes sense. 

“Marinette, I need to talk to you.”

“Chat? Is there an akuma or something?” It was odd that he used her first name. Surely Tikki would’ve told her, or she would’ve heard something but…

“No! No! But…” 

Marinette gently laid her hand on his cheek as she smiled at him, “It’s ok. Take your time, I’m here for you.” 

“Imayornothavefigureouthatyou’reLadybugandIthoughtyoushouldknowI’m-”

“Woah! Chat slow down, I can barely understand what you’re saying,” Her heart stopped, ‘Please tell me he didn’t say what I think he did, please for the love of kwami,’

“I…” the blonde sighed, “First let me say I’m sorry. I found out you’re Ladybug by accident. I’m really sorry, I just”

“Chat, it’s… it’s okay. You would’ve found out one way or another. It was an accident. It’s okay,” She sighed, “Let’s not let Master Fu know just yet… We need to think this through.” 

“I can reveal my identity! Plagg,”

“No,” Marinette covered the superhero’s mouth, “I’m already dealing with a lot as Marinette. I don’t need more dilemmas as Ladybug. Once this is done Chat, I’ll let you. But I need to be able to keep my mind on the current situation.” Her eyes softened as she watched the boy. 

“Ok, but I’m here for you, Princess”

She smiled. Marinette was grateful for her partner's trust in her and willingness to respect her boundaries, “Thank you, Chat. It really means a lot to hear that.” 

The boy smiled at her before hearing screaming out the window, “Really? Right now. Let’s go Bugaboo, sound like Paris needs us!”

Marinette quickly transformed, before jumping across Paris. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter had marinette having a panic attack in it, but I decided against it. I only had my own experiences to go off of and I really didn't want to trigger anyone so this is how it went instead. 
> 
> questions? predictions? random thoughts? leave a comment!! I LOVE reading them :)
> 
> Thank you sososo much for reading! please stay safe during these crazy times. Until next chapter, that will probably be sooner rather than later bc I started the next chapter ;)
> 
> ALSO: I think I figure out ao3s formatting, please let me know if it worked :)) !!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is staying safe rn!! !!!! i changed chapter 9,,,, if you read the chapter 9 i uploaded in may please read it through again or some things wont make sense !!!!
> 
> Also,,, me posting at a normal time?? wild,,,, 
> 
> I hope everyone has a nice day :)

The akuma had lasted quite a while and Marinette was visibly exhausted. She held a coffee cup as she walked up the steps to her school. “God, if Hawkmoth has a big storm coming once I figure out who he is,” Marinette grumbled. 

“I feel you there, I’m very lucky my father didn’t catch me on my way in. I have no clue how I’d explain that,” Someone behind her laughed and gently grabbed her arm before she tripped up the stairs. 

Marinette jumped, before she recognized Adrien’s voice. “If Lila arrives so much as less than five minutes after we get there I swear I might just snap.’

Of course, fate has a funny way of things. Lila had arrived before them, and was sporting some new bruises. “Marinette! How dare you! I can’t believe you’d stoop this low!” 

Said girl took in a deep breath as Adrien moved his hand onto her shoulder, “What did I supposedly do now?”

“What did you do? What did you do? Look at Lila! She’s black and blue!” Said girl had a black eye and various bruises covering her arms. 

“And… that relates to me, how?” Marinette was tired of Lila, this happened about just every other week. 

“Alya… come on, I really don’t want to cause issues…” Lila had crocodile tears forming in her eyes. It would be impressive how quickly she managed to do it, if Marinette wasn’t so tired. Her brain barely comprehend the scene going on in front of her and probably would’ve just walked past the two if they weren’t in the way of her seat. 

“Come on, girl! We can’t let her get away with this. Marinette you attacked Lila yesterday as an akuma!” Alya scoffed.

Marinette couldn’t stop herself from doubling over laughing. She held up a finger before taking a deep breath in. The class stared at her as if she was crazy.

She shared a knowing look with Adrien before speaking, “Ah yes, and when was this akuma?” There had only been an akuma of a hospital worker last night, who had seen a friend of theirs die. It had saddened her, but unfortunately, life goes on. 

“Last night!” 

“There was only one akuma last night, and it was definitely not a teenage girl! Besides, Ladybug’s cure would’ve healed your injuries!” 

“You hurt me before the akuma as well!” Lila fake sobbed, covering her face. 

Adrien was unimpressed with Lila, “She was studying with me for our physics test today. She couldn’t have been in two places at once!” 

“Well when did she head home from your place?” Alya asked suspiciously. 

“I drove with her home, Alya. It was late and the other akuma was already running around.” Adrien gave one of his ‘model smiles’, clearly already bored of the conversation. 

“Well, maybe she did it after you dropped her off! Lila wouldn’t lie to us!”

“Alya, maybe it wasn’t Marinette? If it was late, maybe Lila didn’t see properly.”

“Look, class is about to start and I’m going to sit down. I’m exhausted and really not in the mood to deal with this today,” Marinette sighed before sipping her coffee and sitting down in the back. The navy haired girl laid her head on the desk and closed her eyes, ignoring their class around them. 

Adrien slid into the seat next to her and nudged her as Mme. Bustier walked into the classroom, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room. They wrote notes and attempted to keep on another awake, ignoring the glances the rest of the class sent them. 

♡♥♡♥♡

Chloe brought in a coffee for the two with a small smile as their break for lunch started, “You two seemed to need these, I had Jean-Jacques bring some of the best,” 

“Chloe, you are an absolute godsend, I can never thank you enough,” Marinette grabbed the coffee before giving her a small smile. 

“How about this, to ‘pay me back’ so to say, why don’t you give me Clara’s number to help execute our plan,” 

“Fine, fine, but you can’t give it to anyone else,” Marinette sighed, “Besides, when will I get to know about this plan?”

“It’s top secret, think of it like a surprise, Mari.” Adrien grinned, seemingly letting a bit of Chat into his voice. He wiggled his eyes at the girl.

“Just, don’t pull too many people in the crossfire… ok?”

“We’ve got this all planned out. Don’t worry.” 

“If you say so,” Marinette giggled. 

The trio continued chatting as they ate their lunch. Ignoring the whispers and glares from their class. Marinette attempted to get information out of the two but they refused to budge. “Oh come on, please!” 

“Nope! It’s a surprise, Dupain-Cheng, I’d assume you of all people, know what that is,” Chloe teased.

The navy haired girl groaned before begrudgingly muttering some form of agreement. Chloe and Adrien grinned at one another before continuing to tease her. 

She noticed Lila glaring at the trio and Marinette just smiled at her brightly before talking amongst her friends. Marinette wouldn’t let Lila bring her down. She wasn’t worth it. Lila is going to get what’s coming for her and Marinette wouldn’t let it pull her under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for reading!!!! Have a lovely day :) <3
> 
> predictions? questions? comment! I read all of them and answer as many as I can!! I love reading what y'all have to say !!!!
> 
> stay safe !!!!
> 
> this is a very dialogue full chapter,,, its not entirely my forte so if you have any tips, feel free to comment !! I love /constructive/ criticism!!! :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!!!! I know theres been a delay n im sososo sorry! I had some exams that just about made anything on my computer much harder to do lol (but I did well so !! c: ) anyways I hope this is satisfactory ,,,,,

Adrien sighed, he was nervous about talking one on one with Jagged about how his honorary niece was being treated. It needed to be done, yes, but the blonde was worried for the rock star's reaction. 

The phone rang. It rang again. Until Penny picked up, “Hello, this is Jagged Stone’s manager, may I ask who’s speaking?”

“Hi, Penny. It’s Adrien. Is Jagged there?”

“Ah, hello Adrien! Give me a moment.”  
There was some bustling across the line and Adrien paused before nervously speaking up, “Is everything alrig-”

“Adrien! How is everything? How’s Marinette!” 

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, Jagged.” Adrien held in a breath, he couldn’t even see Jagged but the pit in his stomach didn’t seem to care.

“Is something wrong? Is my honorary niece okay? Do I need to run over there-”

“Well, it’s a long story, do you have time to meet somewhere? I think it’d be better to do this in person,” The blonde crossed his fingers. Telling Jagged this over the phone would be worse and cause a few issues.

He heard some mumbling over the phone before Penny spoke up, “I have a feeling we should do this as soon as possible, do you have time to meet us at noon?”

Adrien paused. This was really happening, wasn’t it. “Yeah, that works. Should I just come to the hotel or do you want to meet somewhere?”

“Just hurry over to the hotel, I can already tell this is going to be totally not rock and roll.” Jagged sighed. 

It was odd hearing the normally so enthusiastic rockstar sounding low-energy. “Alright, I’m on my way.”

Adrien quickly headed over to the hotel. He stood before the door to Jagged’s room and paused before knocking. He was really doing this. The blonde felt a pat on his shoulder and as he turned around he saw Chloe give him a nod as she walked away. 

Adrien was about to knock when suddenly the door just about slammed open, “Why didn’t you tell me you were here? Come in!” 

“I really hate to be the bringer of bad news Jagged, but you have a right to know about it,” The teenager sighed, “Marinette… She’s been bullied by this girl for quite a while,”

Jagged seemed ready to get up and fight Lila by himself right at that moment, “Wait, there’s more. The bully, she’s been, well…” 

“Spit it out Adrien! If it gets even less Rock and Roll than this, I gotta know!” 

“Well, she’s been lying about tons of celebrities. She said that she saved your kitten while on a highway and even that you wrote a song about her! And that’s just what she has said about you.”

Penny pinched the bridge of her nose, “I’ll call the lawyers. I’m assuming you have a plan? I know you and Chloe wouldn’t just let this pass…”

A grin grew on Adrien’s face and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

♡♥♡♥♡

Chloe groaned inwardly, this was going to be painful. She knocked on the door and quickly pressed something on her phone before returning it to her back pocket. 

“Hello? I apologize, do I know you?”

“Hi, Madame Rossi, I’m one of your daughter’s friends from school! I wanted to talk to you!”

“Oh come in!” The door opened further and Mlle. Rossi gestured for Chloe to come inside, “What did you want to talk to me about?”

Chloe kept her voice as sweet as she could, it was awfully hard, the thought of being Lila’s friend was sickening to Chloe. “Well, we wanted to plan a party for Lila but we were worried with her tinnitus and other disabilities!” 

“I’m sorry what? Lila, my daughter, doesn’t have any disabilities?” Madame Rossi had a confused look on her face and she watched Chloe carefully.

“Oh? I must’ve made a mistake then… However, we wanted to check what dates you both aren’t travelling? She’s missed quite a bit of school due to your trips for charities! How did you even get your daughter into working with such prestigious charities?” 

Mlle. Rossi was looking at Chloe as if she had grown a second head, “...Pardon me?”

“Oh! And we wanted some of Lila’s celebrity friends like Clara or Jagged to come! She speaks oh so fondly of them!” Chloe tried as hard as she could to keep herself from smirking. Madame Rossi’s shocked face told her all that she needed to know. 

“Is something wrong Madame Rossi? You’re awfully pale…” Chloe feigned confusion, as if Mlle. Rossi didn’t know she was playing right into the blondes, perfectly-manicured hands. 

“I think you should go, dear. I need to talk to Lila. I appreciate you doing this for my daughter.” Mlle. Rossi stood up from the couch, her hands trembling in anger. She walked over to the door as she held a small, obviously fake smile. 

“Well, I’ve got to go. Thank you for your time Madame Rossi.”

As soon as the door shut behind her, the smug smirk on Chloe’s face grew. This was going to be good. Revenge was sweet as honey and Chloe was glad she was one of the ringleaders behind this scheme. It couldn’t have gone any better. 

She grabbed her phone, and called Adrien, “Hello? Yes. Did you finish your part? Yes? Ok great, Adrikins... They agreed? Perfect…. It’s all coming together.” 

Chloe tsked at the worried mutters that came from her phone, “Are you chickening out Adrikins? What a shame....” She knew Adrien wouldn’t. He cared about Marinette far too much.

She laughed at his response, “Fine, fine. I’ve got to get out of this building before Lila returns.”

Chloe walked out of the apartment buildings.The sun shined on her face and Chloe knew that she was doing the right thing. That this would all turn out okay in the end. It would be worth it. At least, she sure hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading !!!! hopefully you enjoyed!! stay safe & healthy! ill see ya next time :)
> 
> !!!! dear folks who write social media fics for mlb: I love you- theres not enough lmao,,,,, I love them very very much!

**Author's Note:**

> This will likely be a couple of parts! Please leave a kudo or a comment (let me know if I messed any grammar or spelling up! Again, it's late for me so it wasn't quite my priority sorry!!) 
> 
> I may move this chapter and create one before it to create more of a backstory, but we'll see!!
> 
> I currently don't have an update schedule yet. I'll try to update this a not too long after today haha :)


End file.
